Holy Roman Empire

foreign we are going to discuss what was in some ways the most unusual Empire in European history the Holy Roman Empire the Holy Roman Empire was built on an idea an idea is so powerful that it held together what is now Germany most of Czechoslovakia the Netherlands and Northern Italy for centuries the basic idea of the Empire started with this Germanic King Charlemagne it was Charlemagne who saved the papacy from The Barbarians who threatened Rome in recognition of Charlemagne Services the Pope in 800 A.D crowned this King emperor of the West but when Charlemagne died his lands were divided these two areas became the basis of the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages these lands were a loose collection of feudal Estates these Estates were held by the clergy and the nobility many German Nobles dreamed of building an empire such as that of Charlemagne members of the aristocracy agreed with churchmen that a single idea Christianity might bind together an Empire most Europeans believed that Christianity was the one true religion and that there was one true people Christians then might there not be one Christian government here in today's Rome there is a famous Mosaic which illustrates the idea of a single Christian government the Mosaic decorates this church originally made in the Middle Ages the Mosaic shows Saint Peter giving religious authority to a medieval Pope and secular authority to Charlemagne so according to Medieval philosophy there could be a single Christian government with powers shared by the popes and the Germanic Kings this philosophy was the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire this Christian Empire had two rulers the pope who ruled in sacred matters and the Emperor or Germanic king who ruled its secular or governmental matters one ruler for the church one ruler for the state the Holy Roman Empire created in 962 was a large part of Western Europe it had two Capital Cities Rome where the spiritual leader the pope was elected and lived and aachen where the secular ruler the Germanic King was elected and crowned these are scenes of present-day Achim a city filled with reminders of the Holy Roman Empire in this Cathedral the coronation ceremonies of a number of Germanic Kings took place though the interior of this Cathedral has changed over the years it isn't hard to imagine the Pomp and Splendor of a coronation here on this Throne the newly crowned Emperor received the homage of his Knights after the ceremonies German kings usually left aachen for Rome on his journey a king may have rested at castles like this one let's imagine such a king and his retinue here the king will receive shelter and rehearse his role in the coming coronation ceremonies at Rome to understand the powers of a Holy Roman Emperor we look in on a scene that might have taken place in this Castle a German King of the late 900s talks about his coming coronation as emperor Martin you were in Rome during the last coronation tell us what it would be like When we arrive your majesty the streets will be crowded with Nobles and commoners all cheering all proclaiming their allegiance to us with the Pope you will ride to the church of Saint Peter and in that church I shall receive the crown yes but first the pope will offer you a sword with which to fight the Heathen Nation and also an orb and a scepter to symbolize my power on Earth next your majesty shall Proclaim an oath that you will cherish and defend the Holy Roman Church and the Pope and then the title of Emperor will be mine there will be other titles too head of Christendom Defender and advocate of the Christian church temporal head of the faithful yes the emperor received many Powers but he did not rule a single people his subjects included Saxons Lombards Bohemians and many others on the other hand the pope did attempt to rule a single group the clergy throughout the Empire the allegiance of the clergy belonged to the Pope abbots and Bishops receive their titles from the Pope and the land on which the clergy lived and worked was part of the church but many Church lands were within the boundaries of the empire so the two rulers tended to divide the Empire rather than unify it for about the first hundred years of its existence strong Emperors were able to control the empire then in the late 11th century power began to shift we can best understand this shift of power by imagining another scene in which investitures will be discussed the naming of men to high positions in the clergy it was this matter of investitures that caused a break between Emperor and Pope this Prince is an advisor to the emperor and this Monk an advisor to the Pope I understand the emperor is going to name your cousin the new bishop as you know we believe it is the right of the Pope to name his own Bishops and other high Church officials throughout the Empire many of us German Nobles disagree the right to Name Church officials in German lands belongs to the emperor yes the emperor wants to name his own Bishops then those same Bishops May later be named Cardinals and they like the pope whom the emperor favors on the other hand the pope wishes to name only those Church officials who will swear their allegiances to him and devote their lands and armies to his surface and not the emperor the Empire has already lost the Italian lands because the pope encouraged the local governments of Northern Italy to ignore the emperor and to seek Independence this will not happen in Germany I repeat the German lands belonging to the church must be controlled by the church then I must say this to you in order to preserve this Holy Roman Empire our Emperor Henry IV May seize the church lands by Force of Arms I pray that they may never come but the day did come Emperor Henry IV seized the church lands and was promptly excommunicated by this Pope Gregory VII thus Pope Gregory denied the emperor all sacred rights of the church in 1077 The Emperor traveled to Italy to beg forgiveness of the Pope this event weakened the power of the Emperors over the Holy Roman Empire for about two centuries the empire was dominated by the popes but then power shifted again when a strong Emperor was elected to the throne he was Frederick the first called Barbarossa or Redbeard Barbarossa was determined to bring Northern Italy back into his Empire Barbarossa didn't realize however that he was weakening Germany to fight a war that resulted in disastrous defeat in Italy intended to break the emperor's own power this power was assumed by the German Nobles who split the Germanic lands into many states each with its own government but this historic town of Nuremberg was the scene of an important event that strengthened the role of the emperor here in 1356 when Nuremberg was the center of German life German princes met to draw up this document called the Golden Bull this Imperial edict increased the emperor's power and also provided a set routine for the election of emperors from the time of the Golden Bull on the title of Emperor fell mostly to descendants of a noble German family called the habsburgs who ruled from magnificent Estates such as this of the many Habsburg emperors perhaps the greatest was Charles V through inheritance Charles controlled not only the Germanic lands but Spain and Spain's colonies in the new world as well but in the mid-1500s Charles gave Spain to his son and the Germanic lands to his brother under weak rulers the German Nobles again Rose to power tending to destroy the idea of a unified empire at the same time here at Wittenberg a religious Force called the Reformation was gaining momentum the Reformation was led by a German monk named Martin Luther and might almost be said to have signaled the end of the Holy Roman Empire four in 1618 a state such as this became the Battlegrounds of the 30 Years War where Noble fought against Noble Catholic against Protestant for 30 years the German Countryside was laid waste by this war let's imagine another conversation to get a better idea of what the 30 Years War was about these are peasants who have been in the fighting so at least we have Shelter tonight we live in a stable is better than sleeping out in the open terrible War why do we kill our neighbors our friends because our princes want to be able to choose either the religion of Rome or that of the Protestant reformers that's true and then there is the Emperor he is also fighting the Protestant princes he wants a unified empire with everyone following the Catholic faith but if he gets these things then many of the princes will lose their powers so they fight to hold on to what they've got I don't think anyone can really win this war neither princes nor emperor the war is ruining our people and it ruined the Empire too the Holy Roman Empire at the close of the war in 1648 was more than ever dominated by separate princes and slowly the Empire decayed so powerless was the Empire that about 200 years later it was easily conquered by French troops led by Napoleon Napoleon brought to an end the sad complex history of the Holy Roman Empire an Empire that sprang from a great idea the unification of Christian lands and peoples but almost from the start there was conflict between the secular ruler and the sacred ruler of the empire this conflict produced a string of Wars wars that caused the Empire to crumble into separate weak States meanwhile neighboring countries such as France Spain England developed strong central governments finally the Empire collapsed beaten by Napoleon only the lands belonging to the habsburgs who continued to call themselves Emperors until World War One remained of the empire but from the ruins of this Empire would come strong new nations Italy Germany and Austria Nations that would greatly influence world history in the 19th and 20th centuries [Music]